What is career lattices?

The traditional idea of career advancement, often pictured as a strict ascent up a corporate ladder, is increasingly out of sync with the demands of the modern worker and the agility required by today’s businesses. A different model is gaining ground, one that acknowledges that growth isn't always upward and that skills developed in one area can be incredibly valuable when applied elsewhere. This alternative approach to career progression is known as the career lattice.

# Model Shift

A career lattice defines a more expansive and dynamic way for employees to navigate their professional lives within an organization or an industry as a whole. Instead of confining movement to a single, predetermined upward track, the lattice model supports multidirectional mobility. This means employees are not only permitted but encouraged to move vertically (advancing to a higher role), horizontally (lateral moves to similar levels, often in different functions), and even diagonally or occasionally backward. The diagonal move is particularly illustrative, representing a shift to a role with different responsibilities that may not be a strict promotion but builds a unique combination of competencies.

The core philosophy driving this change is a shift in focus from job titles and tenure to skills and experiences. In a lattice structure, career success becomes defined less by the highest rung an individual reaches and more by the breadth of experience they accumulate and the autonomy they achieve. This framework recognizes that for many employees, career fulfillment means finding meaning, better work-life fit, or specialized mastery, rather than purely seeking increased status and power.

# Ladder Contrast

To fully appreciate the career lattice, it is helpful to clearly distinguish it from its predecessor, the career ladder. The career ladder operates on a strictly linear, sequential progression. It maps out clear steps where advancement requires fulfilling prerequisites, typically leading to greater responsibility, seniority, and salary, often within the same department or functional area. This structure made sense in more stable industrial economies where roles were clearly defined and career paths were predictable.

The career lattice, by contrast, thrives in today’s unpredictable and rapidly changing work environment. Where the ladder restricts movement to one direction, the lattice opens up a web of interconnected routes, much like navigating a climbing wall.

Here is a direct comparison of the two models:

For an organization, the ladder works best when the hierarchy is deep and the roles within a specific track are stable. The lattice is superior when adaptability, cross-functional insight, and retention of versatile talent are paramount.

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# Employee Gains

The adoption of a career lattice structure offers tangible advantages for the individual employee who is often seeking more than just a title bump. The primary benefit is the personalization of growth. Employees gain the flexibility to align their professional development with their current life stage, ambition, or evolving interests. If a high-performing specialist is burning out from their current role but is not interested in people management, the lattice allows them to move laterally into a different specialist track or diagonally into a related function where their core expertise is still valuable.

For instance, a customer success manager might realize their deep knowledge of client pain points would be better applied in content marketing, leading to a lateral move that enriches their skill set and prevents burnout. Furthermore, employees who make lateral moves often see greater overall wage increases and are ultimately more likely to secure future promotions compared to those who remain static. The lattice also provides a route for those who wish to step back temporarily—perhaps to pursue advanced education or manage personal commitments—without having to leave the company entirely. This flexibility directly addresses a major driver of voluntary turnover: the desire to stretch, grow, and learn when internal opportunities are lacking.

# Business Value

When organizations shift their perspective from managing a roster of static jobs to managing a dynamic portfolio of skills, the lattice model delivers significant returns.

One of the most compelling organizational arguments is the impact on talent retention. If an employee’s need for growth is met through lateral or diagonal moves, the need to search for advancement externally diminishes significantly, reducing churn and preserving institutional knowledge. This naturally leads to cost savings in recruitment, as internal mobility replaces the need to source, hire, and onboard external candidates.

The lattice also enhances organizational agility by enabling rapid skills transfer. In an era where skill gaps are widening quickly, a lattice allows a business to plug immediate needs by moving an employee whose adaptable skills (like project management or relationship building) are transferable across functions. This cross-pollination of talent breaks down silo walls, increasing innovation by exposing different teams to fresh ideas and perspectives. Employees who have worked in marketing, sales, and operations, for example, are far better equipped to step into future strategic leadership roles because they possess a holistic view of how the entire organization functions.

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# Adoption Hurdles

Implementing a career lattice is more than just drawing new arrows on an org chart; it requires dismantling long-held cultural assumptions.

One of the foremost obstacles is cultural resistance. For decades, success has been equated with climbing vertically; lateral or downward moves can be misinterpreted as stagnation or failure by employees and managers alike. This cultural inertia often manifests as talent hoarding, where managers resist allowing high-potential employees to move to other departments because they feel they have "invested" in that person and have not yet seen the return on that investment.

Another critical challenge is visibility and data. In the ladder model, paths were obvious; in the lattice, the sheer number of possibilities can be overwhelming, leading to confusion about where one is positioned or what development is needed for a desired move. Furthermore, traditional HR systems are often built on job titles, making it difficult to inventory and match the transferable skills that are the true currency of the lattice. Without clear data on current competencies and available roles/projects, employees are left to guess, resulting in frustration and inaction.

# Implementation Steps

Successfully adopting a career lattice requires a deliberate, four-part strategy supported by clear communication.

# Stakeholder Education

The first action is securing executive buy-in and educating all stakeholders, especially line managers, on the lattice benefits. HR must actively dispel myths. For example, the myth that "talent is owned by the manager" must be replaced with the truth that talent is an organizational asset that needs to move to where it is most effective. Managers must understand that supporting internal moves actually increases organizational skill depth and retains the employee long-term.

# Data Mapping

The second step involves gathering and connecting data on work and skills. This moves beyond job descriptions to a skills taxonomy—a common language for describing competencies across all roles. Organizations must map required skills for every job, then use that map to identify transferable skills between roles. For example, knowing an employee possesses "process modeling" proficiency in business analysis allows you to map potential lateral moves into areas like customer journey mapping. This data-driven approach allows HR and employees to visualize actual, achievable lattice moves, rather than relying on conjecture.

# Skills Portfolio Tools

The third component focuses on employee readiness. Employees need tools to build and validate their own skills portfolios. While technical skills are easier to quantify, behavioral skills require structured feedback mechanisms. A good internal system can allow employees to list skills, which are then validated either through project outcomes, professional qualifications, or peer/manager feedback, similar to how proficiency checks function on external professional networks. This self-awareness is crucial because, unlike climbing a ladder where the next rung is known, on a lattice, the individual must actively choose and map their next diagonal step.

# Opportunity Visibility

Finally, the organization must advertise opportunities transparently. Technology, such as an internal talent marketplace, becomes essential to make thousands of potential lattice moves visible at scale. Internal job postings should be simplified to focus on the skills required rather than just the title, making employees more confident in applying for roles that utilize their current strengths while developing adjacent ones. By making all internal gigs, stretch assignments, and vacancies accessible alongside the employee's own skills data, the organization empowers them to proactively drive their development.

A helpful way for organizations to track adoption and counter manager reluctance is to establish internal mobility goals, such as increasing the percentage of roles filled internally quarterly. By tying manager performance metrics to successful talent sharing rather than just talent retention on their team, the cultural pushback against lateral movement lessens significantly.

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# Real Examples

The theory behind career latticing has been practiced in various forms for decades, showing that it can support growth at scale. For example, the chemical company W.L. Gore & Associates has historically operated on a decentralized "lattice" structure since the 1950s. More recently, major organizations have adapted the framework. Deloitte, for instance, has long used a model of "Mass Career Customization" that emphasizes multidirectional career moves to diversify employee skills. Spotify structures its approach around an understanding that "growth is not linear," using internal initiatives like "Gigs" and "Job Swaps" that focus on skills acquisition rather than title changes. Buffer structures its framework around two main tracks—Makers (individual contributors) and Managers—allowing progression through "Steps" within broader "Levels," ensuring specialists can achieve significant recognition without being forced into people management.

In the long-term healthcare sector, a career lattice visualizes movement from a Home Health Aide to a Certified Nurse Assistant, which is a vertical step, alongside a lateral move between the Aide role and a Direct Support Professional role, showing that progression is about skill building across adjacent roles.

This move toward skill-based, flexible progression is essential because the workforce is changing rapidly; experts predict that nearly half of the core skills required in the job market will change by 2030. Relying solely on the rigid structure of the past is a recipe for internal obsolescence. The career lattice is the blueprint for building a contemporary workforce that is adaptable, engaged, and prepared for continuous evolution.